View 1 - Versatility
wîgobbi'mîc in the Pottawatomi language - basswood, is a tree native to the Great Lakes Region. It is versatile and regenerative in character (Smith nd). As a teacher, the tree tells many stories. It grows easily in a variety of soils from sandy to swampy, and it can renew itself through several mechanisms. Sometimes a healthy tree will fall over for new saplings to take root and grow. It is known as a honey tree because its fragrant yellow-white flowers attract bees in late spring and early summer, and animals eat its twigs and seeds (USDA Forest Service). As a softwood it is easily carved and used extensively for this purpose. Its fibrous inner bark can be made into many useful items including ropes, mats, fishing nets (Child 2011), and bags like this one. Basswood bags are woven with the fiber cord made by soaking and twining the inner strips of the bark. Women are most likely to be the primary creators of basswood bags using techniques taught by their mothers, however, the harvesting and preparation of the wood is a family affair involving men and children. The basswood bag has many uses. It can be used to carry and store daily objects, as well as personal sacred objects. The bags can be used for straining maple syrup and making pitch. Pitch is made by boiling tree gum inside the bag, which helps the pitch rise to the surface to be easily collected. Potawotomi built houses using the easily pliable bark. In this video from the 1930s, women and men are shown working together to build a barkhouse, and wigobbi’mic harvesting is explained by a woman. In Anishinaabe stories basswood has an interesting role associated with sound. In the Anishinaabe creation story, Nanabozho encounters Serpent Woman weaving a string she intends to use to trip him, noting that the reverberation it will make will alert her when it catches him. In another story, Nanabozho imitates the fisher’s music by attaching stones to himself with basswood which reverberates loudly as he walks across the ice of a frozen lake (Friedman & Johnson 2005; Chamberlain 1892).